NO more new items for me.

Did you ever have a conversation with your spouse that went something like this:

Me: "If I just buy this Gott cooler, I won't need another thing to make my beer."
Him: "Are you sure? You've spent alot of money on equipment already."
Me: "Oh yes, I'm sure"

Later:
"I just need the wort chiller. I forgot about that when I said no more. This is it, though."

A bit later:
"I just need this turkey fryer. Nothing else. I'm all set. NOW we'll save a ton of money per batch by having it all set".

Yes, I am not the proud owner of my turkey fryer, with the wort chiller on the way. And the hops rhizomes. I don't need anything else! Well, that pot that came with the turkery fryer is kind of chintzy, I might need to replace that. And a lauter tun, so I can fly sparge. And a sparge arm. But, that's all I need! :rockin:

Sounds very familiar............................

yeah i have been saying that kinda stuff since i got into it.. but it never stops...

All to familiar scenario... it's funny how the obession, with the help of the little parasitic worm burrowed in your ear, makes you think you've purchased your last piece of equipement each time, but you know the truth. You know there's alway more.

Actually... I think I purchased my last pieces of equipment a few weeks ago. I should be good for a while

Brand new or new to you?

I'd go with brand new. If he says new to you then inform him that ingredients are also new.

I recently told my wife that brewing my own beer is not cheaper, but that I love it. I left the "cheaper" theory behind a long time ago. She lets me buy stuff as long as she can afford clothes and toys for the kid. Maybe in a few years I will have made up my investment.


Dan

I'm thinking about having that conversation with the wife tonight about getting a second fridge...

REALLY! That will be *IT*!...

I figured out real quick that I wasn't saving super amounts of money by making my own beer. I have a list a mile long of wants. I justify it because it took me quite a few years to find a hobby that I wanted to stick with, where as SWMBO has been accumulating scrapbooking equipment and Longaberger baskets for years.

My wife doesn't really like my hobby, but she doesn't complain (it'll probably come up at the divorce proceedings though...).

homebrewer_99 said:

My wife doesn't really like my hobby, but she doesn't complain (it'll probably come up at the divorce proceedings though...).

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Neither does mine!!! I've heard more than once, " Do you want to get a divorce over beer?", the little voice in my head is going "yah, yah, say yes damn it..."

My line is - "Honest this the last thing I'll need... (under my breath)... until next time!"

All I need is this paddle game.....and my dog Sh!thead.....OK I don't need my dog.....just this paddle game and.......




Yup, been there.

Hmm...I always leave things a bit more open-ended...

"This should be all I need to finish my current project..."

Yooper Chick said:

Did you ever have a conversation with your spouse that went something like this:

Me: "If I just buy this Gott cooler, I won't need another thing to make my beer."
Him: "Are you sure? You've spent alot of money on equipment already."
Me: "Oh yes, I'm sure"

Later:
"I just need the wort chiller. I forgot about that when I said no more. This is it, though."

A bit later:
"I just need this turkey fryer. Nothing else. I'm all set. NOW we'll save a ton of money per batch by having it all set".

Yes, I am not the proud owner of my turkey fryer, with the wort chiller on the way. And the hops rhizomes. I don't need anything else! Well, that pot that came with the turkery fryer is kind of chintzy, I might need to replace that. And a lauter tun, so I can fly sparge. And a sparge arm. But, that's all I need! :rockin:

Click to expand...

Replace Gott Cooler with "Four more cornies".
Replace wort chiller with "chest freezer"
Replace turkey fryer with "second CO2 setup".
And those hop rhizomes? That would be my banjo burner....

Now you've got my conversation.

But boy, does she love my Kolsch....

SWMBO's...gotta love em.

heh. Compared to my reef aquarium, my beer hobby is downright cheap.

My girlfriend doesn't mind it so much, since she gets to enjoy some of the results directly, rather than saying "You want to put HOW big of an aquarium in the living room???"

So, my advice it, pick up a more expensive hobby so brewing looks inexpensive in comparison.

-D

I just got married a little over three weeks ago. I told my wife before we got married that this is my one and only hobby, and that I will be spending lots of money on gadgets, gizmos, and equipment for it.

I am always dragging her to the brew shop with me, and she comes with me to pick up used equipment on craigslist.

He seems to be pretty understanding so far, and is really getting involved with helping me build this chest freezer. She helps me clean my corni kegs too.....I love my wife.

I spent $115 at the lhbs yesterday and said "that's all I'm buying for awhile" Then I got home and realized I forgot to have them grind my grains so less than 24hrs after saying no more, I bought a grain mill off ebay... It never stops... And I still need a wort chiller

Do you have my apartment wired with recording devices? That sounds like my bi-weekly conversation.

Yeah, its called G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and its even worse for musicians.

Ivan Lendl said:

Yeah, its called G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and its even worse for musicians.

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Or worse yet, fly fisherman!

FlyGuy said:

Or worse yet, fly fisherman!

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Oh man another fly fisherman. I have way to much money in that stuff, for something I only get too do a few times a year.

well... we went out to celebrate my getting my national counseling license at the tap room last night... after looking at the prices for the beer and comparing them to mine I don't think SWMBO will complain if I get some more toys for a while. Her comment was "geez this is more than you spent on that new burner!" heh YAY!

SWMBO still smiles and actually helps in the search for more gear. More in the interest of saving money than a real participation in the endevour, but in Canada, buying beer is still pretty expensive so I can use the 'saving money' for a little while longer. She's catching on, but she's hobbying too.

Really. All I need is a wort oxygenation system then I'll have everything I need. Well, I could use a good PH meter. Oh and a better digital thermometer. That reminds me, my scale really isn't that accurate... A Kegorator sure would make serving much easier... All the guys are getting brew sculptures...

I went about it a different way. I found a kit that I knew she'd like. And like it she did. That evolved to.....you know, I can make this beer even better. Isn't opening bottles a pain, I heard about this thing called "kegging", you want me to look into that????
Worked like a charm, but after buying the 4th corny, I was starting to get "the look." You married guys know what I'm talking about. Getting the banjo burner was easy, she likes crab boils and it take a LONG time for that all that water to get heated up on the stove. Banjo burner took care of that problem. But since coming to this site, I have bought more stuff than I had orginally planned. I always say get it while the getting is good!

I too am a makeAlcoholic. I've found myself hiding brew gear from my wife. I stay up late ordering stuff when I should be sleeping. I sneak off during lunch breaks and buy gear.

She's excited that I'm making wine though (although she hasn't seen the basement staircase yet). She's given me carte blanche for wine making purposes. I went out and bought two wine buckets this weekend, and I'm going to start looking for recommendations on another wine to make, one that can be drank rather quickly (like, no 1 year aging required).

Then I need to get the Portugese Floor Corker.

Cheesefood said:

Then I need to get the Portugese Floor Corker.

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Oh, yeah- I need that too. They're around $60 and too big to easily hide, though.

I purchased most of my equipment early on. Except for kegs, but I have more kegs now than drinking capacity. I've resisted the urge to get a mill, because of the critter problem. So, I'm set.

I don't need another fridge for fermentation.
Or A/C for the storage room.
Or a hop stopper
Or ...

I like to reach milestones, then take a good break. During those breaks, things are great. It will be even more so now that I have a mill and a huge sack of maris otter. Honestly, I think I could make 10 batches without buying a single thing. The grain mill and big bag of base grain was the latest milestone for me.

FlyGuy said:

Or worse yet, fly fisherman!

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I just bought a new Sage 3wt yesterday and I had to drive past my LHBS to get it. That was a tough decision not to turn in!

Very familiar with the "Just one more item" conversation. From beginner kit beer equipment to the new Sabco "Brew Magic" I think she is numb to all purchases and propaganda at this point. She is understanding and enthusiastic about my hobby / interests.

I have been having this conversation with me SWMBO for the last two weeks. It started out with upgrading my equipment to handle full boils, and AG. She agreed for me that we would get the equipment a little at a time over the course of a month or so. We went to Home Depot to buy a turkey fryer, and it was next to the Rubbermaid coolers. She thought she was being nice when she siad why don't you buy the cooler too. I guess she did not understand that by getting the equipment a little at a time it meant some stuff each day of the week. I had already bought the cooler two days ago, and completed my first AG batch the next day. Since I was so "close" to having everything I need, I bought the rest of the stuff at the LHBS that same day.

bradsul said:

I just bought a new Sage 3wt yesterday and I had to drive past my LHBS to get it. That was a tough decision not to turn in!

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Ah, the dilemna. I have faced that before!

Have you tried that new 3 wt yet? I LOVE Sage rods -- I have a couple (low-end) Sage, and I love them. I call them 'terminal' rods because you never upgrade them. Although I know how buying a rod goes -- it never just stops there. The next thing is that you realize that old 3 wt reel is probably a little too heavy for that nice new rod. ....Plus, if you got a new reel, then you could keep the old one on the old 3 wt so that SWMBO or a friend could use it. Yeah. Oh, but now I need new fly line and backing. Well, if I am going to do that, I may as well get the multi-tip line. Naw, that stuff isn't worth it. Better to get a spare spool and buy both new floating and new sink tip lines. Shoot, now I need more backing. Well, I may as well just buy a BULK spool and save a bunch of money down the road. But those big spools are hard to work with. Better buy a line winder, too.....

Etc., etc., etc......

For those of you who don't fly fish, just substitute the words new pot, CFC chiller, ball valve, etc. for all the fly fishing gear terms. Same thing.

FlyGuy said:

...Have you tried that new 3 wt yet?...

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My fly shop has a nice back area where you can test rods you want to buy so I've cast it on grass. Trout season opens this weekend so I'm dying to get out on the water. I love Sage rods too, this is only the FLi series so not expensive. I also have a Sage 4wt that is my goto unless it's really windy.

I know the reel problem all too well. That's why I have 9 of the bloody things and about 16 spare spools loaded with various weights and riggings. Between brewing and flyfishing I don't think I'll ever be able to retire.

RichBrewer said:

Really. All I need is a wort oxygenation system then I'll have everything I need. Well, I could use a good PH meter. Oh and a better digital thermometer. That reminds me, my scale really isn't that accurate... A Kegorator sure would make serving much easier... All the guys are getting brew sculptures...

Click to expand...

OH MAN, this post hurts... I've got the O2 system (although I just had to replace the damn O2 reg), but I've been dreaming of PH meters, and instant-read thermometers, and a bigger scale for measuring grain... and once I get the fridge, a couple or five faucets are inevitable... and I'll hopefully be helping evanmars build a brew sculpture this summer so I can learn to weld, which means that mine isn't far behind....

So really, your post just hit even big item that's still on my dream list... BASTARD!

Heh, Luckily my better half brews also, so she is eying the same equipment I am. Hardest part is figuring out who's design we are going to run with on the new projects. Need a His and Hers brewing setup.

cnbudz said:

I spent $115 at the lhbs yesterday and said "that's all I'm buying for awhile" Then I got home and realized I forgot to have them grind my grains so less than 24hrs after saying no more, I bought a grain mill off ebay... It never stops... And I still need a wort chiller

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2 days after I said this and I just bought a kegerator conversion kit off ebay....:rockin:

And I STILL need that wort chiller

Yooper Chick said:

Did you ever have a conversation with your spouse that went something like this:

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Thankfully, no. I built in a permanent funding source when I adopted this hobby. My work expense cheques can be used the purchase equipment and supplies. I still have to dip into general revenues from time to time, but I get anywhere from $30-$90 bi-weekly to spend brewing. As a result my purchases tend to be drawn out, but at least I don't get my funding cut off.

Poor, poor, Yooper.

Well, and the rest of you too, but it's much sadder when a woman has to put up with what we do. It just seems more... unfair.

My Crankandstein shipped today!!! Arrives on Thursday.

I dunno why people feel so guilty about buying beer making equipment. Its kind of funny.

Have you ever added up how much it would cost to buy all the beer/ wine/ apfelwein/ mead you and your family will drink in the next 10,15,20 years ?

People have such a short time span when they consider the cost of this hobby. How many brews can one get out of a cooler ? Do they ever wear out ?

Isn't SWMBO'd glad you have a house based hobby and you aren't getting into trouble ?

Why is it OK to buy a big boat, pay hundreds of dollars a year for insurance, moorage, fuel and depreciation and yet we shudder at spending $1000 on equipment that will last a lifetime ? Hmmm...

And the list of things to buy doesn't go on forever. Although I haven't found the end of yet either...

brewman ! said:

I dunno why people feel so guilty about buying beer making equipment. Its kind of funny.

Have you ever added up how much it would cost to buy all the beer/ wine/ apfelwein/ mead you and your family will drink in the next 10,15,20 years ?

People have such a short time span when they consider the cost of this hobby. How many brews can one get out of a cooler ? Do they ever wear out ?

Isn't SWMBO'd glad you have a house based hobby and you aren't getting into trouble ?

Why is it OK to buy a big boat, pay hundreds of dollars a year for insurance, moorage, fuel and depreciation and yet we shudder at spending $1000 on equipment that will last a lifetime ? Hmmm...

And the list of things to buy doesn't go on forever. Although I haven't found the end of yet either...

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SWMBO's said no to a boat too, for now.

I have been given permission to get a motorcycle, but it's not quite permission. It's that weird female permission that sounds like permission until you go through with it and then find it was more of a challenge than permission.